~General Narration~

Angela: "Doesn't surprise me. But I haven't mentioned anything about the past to any of them. I've been planting little seeds to help break down walls through the UP, but Bombshell has been trying to keep me out of my own domain."

She then mumbled something about 'dumb wench' unhappily.

Emery: "BS is still kicking it?!"

She growled.

Emery: "Boy, I'd like to soooo zap her to Pluto!"

She briefly crackled with electricity.

Emery: "What's she up to? She said something about a 'master plan'. The other TOs and 'Bots don't even have a clue."

Angela: "I can't get a fix on it just yet, but it's nothing good, as usual."

The blonde woman grumbled.

Emery sighed, calming down.

Emery: "There's something else about Meggy too. She's . . . she's got this energy I can sense. It's powerful. SUPER powerful."

Angel chuckled a little, the information nothing new.

Angela: "I know, Sugar. I know. The UP is a useful place if you use it right. Tells you a lot of things the conscious world doesn't."

Emery: “Yeah. Hey, I promised my kids, Jaycee and Jayde I'd take them to Disney for a couple days or so. Keep an eye on the girls for me, will ya? They're prone for trouble and with Meggy's memories coming back . . . they're in for some pretty hard blows."

Angel nodded in affirmation.

Angela: "They're safe with me, Em."

Emery grinned.

Emery: "And . . . by the way. Sometime, I'd really like to see JB again. Soon. Got that darling?"

She porposely used one of Blade's old habits. Calling people 'darling'.

Angela: "Trust me, you will. She um, well, between us, her subconscious remembers everything. When I open her mind, she calls me by name and asks for you and Optimus and Miko. So maybe one of these nights we'll have a little get together."

She smiled weakly. It hurt to know that their friend remembered them, but in such a way that at the same time, she didn't.

Emery smiled.

Emery: "Maybe . . . . but didn't you say BS is running the UP nowadays?"

Angela: "She tries, Sugar, but it's my domain. She may control it right now, but she won't confront me when I'm in it. Heh . . . she gets near me and the UP will throw her out itself. It's very fickle with who is it's mistress, and if we were to collide . . . Well it won't end well for her. But she knows this and so she'll try to influence me into leaving when I'm there, and it wears on me after a while so I go, but otherwise,  she can't do a thing."

Emery: "Then what is she doing up there. That's what I'd like to know."

Emery's eyes narrowed.

Emery: "It sure is suspicious."

Angel smiled.

Angela: "You mean the UP?"

Emery: "Yeah. She's got something up her sleeve."

Her watch beeped. The same one she'd been given by JewelBlade from Red. She’d kept it all these years.

Emery: "I gotta get moving. See ya Ange."

She smiled.

Emery: "You're not such a bad chick after all. Sorry I was too much of a jock-head to see that."

Angel smiled, calling after her.

Angela: "A lot changes, Sugar. And by the way, the UP isn't 'up there'. It's everywhere."

Emery: "Yeah. Heh. Right."

Emery grinned, heading into the hotel and to the girl's room.

Angel took a deep breath. She knew a wall had begun to crumble last night in Jasmine’s mind. If it were made of bricks, one critical piece had been dislodged. And the past, pounding away at the wall from the other side, was going to break down the wall at a breakneck pace. The imagery would no longer be confined to her dreams. The visions would visit her at any waking hour they possibly could. A lull in conscious activity would bring them back. Or, even the right imagery would jog her memory.

And it killed Angel to know the past was about to break Jasmine’s spark.

~First-Person Narration: Jasmine~

    Breathe in.

    Breathe out.

    Breathe in.

    Breathe out.

    Simple enough, right? Well, not so much. I was trying so hard to focus on something; the plush softness of my bed, the crispness of the air in my room, the droning of the TV set on the adjacent wall. Something about MMA fighters. I opened my eyes, sitting up, watching the TV without really SEEING anything. Just moving bodies. Just random blows. Nothing special. I honestly didn’t even know how this channel had been turned on.

    Before I knew it, a man’s arm was being raised by a referee. And I heard the faint utterance of words from an announcer: “Your winner: Orion Pax!”

    And then it hit me. It REALLY hit me. Another vision. Or dream. A waking dream? I don’t even know. All I know is it terrified me. Because I was that robot-like being again.

    With the large man to the side. On an incredibly large bed. Cot? I don’t even know.

    I sat up, my back against the wall towards the head of the cot. Berth, maybe? Yeah, berth sounded right. My hand over my abdomen. I don’t know what it was that told me so, but I just knew it was early in the morning. The man sat next to me, arm draped around my shoulders.

    Optimus. That was his name.

    I stared down at where my hand rested, nervously. About a thousand thoughts were running through my mind, and I couldn’t get a hold on any of them.

    I bit my lip lightly, staring unblinkingly at where I swear I could FEEL a mass slowly growing. Then again, it could have just been paranoia.

    Yeah. Probably paranoia.

    A large metal hand slowly drifted down to rest over mine. I looked up at him, feeling so nervous, and unprepared but . . . loved and supported. Unfortunately, the former two were winning.

JewelBlade: “Optimus, I’m not ready for this. I’m not prepared for this at all. I never thought it would happen and I just don’t know if I can do it. I really don’t know.”

    Instead of being concerned, eyebrows stitching together like I would expect to happen with most men, along with the question “What are you saying?” I was met with a kiss to my forehead, and his large hand gripped mine, squeezing it lightly.

Optimus: “We will make it through this, Maiden. I will be right here all the way.”

JewelBlade: “But-. But-. What-? What if-? What if it doesn’t like me?”

    I bit my lip harder, looking at him desperately. That was an awful fear of mine: that my children, should I ever produce any, wouldn’t love me.

    That terrified me. That I wouldn’t be good enough for my baby. That I would be less than it deserved.

    Optimus actually smiled, chuckled a little, and pulled me closer to him.

Optimus: “The child will love you, Maiden, just as I do.”

    I blushed lightly, looking down. I still wasn’t convinced. I mean, how could he just magically assume that the child would love me? Plenty of children didn’t love their parents, and I was terrified I would fall into that category.

JewelBlade: “How can you be so sure?”

    His hand left mine, two fingers gripping my chin, tilting it up towards him, forcing my optics to meet his.

Optimus: “Because I know you will do everything in your power to make sure you do right by our child.”

    I closed my eyes, pressing my lips together pensively. I knew it was true. I could never give less than my all for a defenseless being, especially one I had helped produce. I was so, so nervous. Because quite frankly, I was still in shock that I was carrying a child.

    Well, I guessed it was time to take the bull by the horns and deal with it. I rubbed my hand back and forth over my abdomen slowly, a weak smile crossing my lips.

JewelBlade: “Hear that Babe? Your father’s a sweetheart. He’s also quite handsome.”

    I swear I could hear Optimus’s smile, even with my eyes closed as he kissed my cheek, before he sat on the ground next to the berth, pulling me over to the edge. His helm planted near my abdomen, his tone hushed.

Optimus: “Hello in there little one, it’s your father. I just wanted to let you know that you have the most beautiful mother in the world. I hope you get her looks.”

    I laughed lightly, and I hoped Optimus didn’t hear the partial sob in it. It wasn’t that I was . . . sad to have a child growing inside me. It was just that I was in shock, and terrified and nervous. I was just this gigantic jumble of emotions and I couldn’t sort them out.

    It was like every emotion was a puzzle piece, and someone had broken the puzzle, dumping all the pieces in a pile on top of each other, making them impossible to get back in place at the moment.

    A small tear escaped my eye, and he was quick to wipe it away. I opened my eyes slowly, and he smiled at me gently, happily.

Optimus: “You’re going to be a wonderful mother.”

    I nodded slowly before coming back to myself. My fleshy, human-esque self. I sighed, slowly playing with my hands, separating the ligaments and skin, revealing the metal lying beneath.

    Soon, I switched my entire forearm from seemingly normal to the wires and metal plating beneath. I ran out of my room, the other arm and my legs from the knee down switching as well, as I ran through the halls, down two flights of stairs and into the basement, into the room I so often used when i was feeling confused and frustrated.

    I attacked the punching bag with pent up emotion, my confusion and sorrow switching to anger and frustration. What was wrong with me?

    I struck the bag again and again, the shape distorting repeatedly. I did this for half an hour at least, before I fell to my knees, crying and sweaty.

    Why was I so insatiably lonely? And why were these images tormenting me?

    I curled into myself slowly, head hung and my arms wrapped around my body. My robot-like arms. I sobbed lightly, changing them back forcibly. But the change was painful emotionally. I wanted that back. I wanted that feeling back. The cold metal. The blue fluid.

    I was so absorbed in my thoughts. So stuck in my staggered sobs, that I hadn’t even heard the light footsteps as Akane approached, lightly placing a towel over my shoulders before sitting down next to me.

    The company was something, but I was still lonely. He wasn’t the one I needed. Not by a long shot.

    I wanted that man. Optimus. If he was even real. For all I knew, these visions were stress-induced craziness. I don’t know how long I was on my knees, trying not to cry and failing, before Akane urged me up and led me back upstairs to the bathroom, closing the door once I was inside.

    I understood. It was time for me to clean up and pull together. Akane was good that way. He always knew when enough was enough.

    And so I did.

    My eyes were still red and a few short sobs still escaped me, but the shower was very calming. It helped. I tried to focus on the water for a while, the tiny drops hitting here and there.

    Breathe in.

    Breathe out.

    Breathe in.

    Breathe out.

    I needed a distraction, and I was sure I knew just what that would be today.

    I was going to go visit that group Daniel had hired.

    MYT. Yes. That should help.